Hi, I just subscribed to your blog, looks nice. I have 7 Moruga Scorpion baby chili plants, and 1 Bhut Jalokia that need a good home. I am out of garden room. They are free to a good home. Contact if you are interested. Sincerely, Craig   Send me an email, [email protected] and I will get hold of Craig for anyone who is interested.   Worlds Hottest Pepper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Moruga_Scorpion   Previous hottest pepper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_Bhut_Jolokia    

I am excited that my blog now consistently exceeds 20,000 hits or visitors each month. My blog is my way of paying back to southern Nevada residents for all their support over the last 30 years in my tenure with the University of Nevada. I have learned alot about horticulture over the years teaching and conducting research in southern Nevada. It is a shame to retire and have that information retire with me. I hope you can use the information I am providing and, in the process, make you better gardeners and horticulturists. I have returned from my assignment in Northern Afghanistan and I am excited to share some of what I learned there. I was concerned sharing much at that time due to security issues. Any pictures of individuals who worked with me there must have their faces blurred for obvious security reasons. Please bear with me when I share these experiences. Northern Afghanistan’s climate is very similar to southern Nevada and their crops and planting schedules were nearly identical to ours. So stay tuned. More to come.

Q. My cassia is full of beautiful yellow blooms. First year this two year old plant has done this. When do I trim it back and how far?  Type of fertilizer will it need?   The base of cassia has several strong stems coming from the base. Choose one or two of these strong stems and remove then at the base. Let it regrow from the base to rejuvinate it and let the leaves fill in from top to bottom from the strong young basal growth. A. Shrubs or other plants should be pruned soon after they flower. In spring flowering plants the flowers are produced during the late summer and fall months. Some finish maturing in the spring before they flower. But regardless, if these spring flowering shrubs are winter pruned with a hedge shears it will remove the spring flowers. If shrubs are pruned properly and not pruned with a hedge shears they then can be winter pruned. Hedge shears should be reserved for nonflowering hedges. Reach down inside the canopy, or from the outside, cut with a sharp and cleaned pruning shears about one inch above the surface of the soil and make your cut. Pick stems that are the largest or too close together. Pruning should be done with a few well-placed cuts deep inside the canopy to remove sections of the plant which are crowded, too tall or too wide. Cuts are made where two stems join together, removing the offensive stem. This results in a general thinning of the shrub removing larger diameter wood. By removing larger diameter wood, this “renews” the shrub and helps keep it young. I hope this helps.

Q. I have an African Sumac that has sprouts coming up from the roots. Besides trimming them every time they get above the soil level is there anything I can do to stop these sprouts from popping up?    Suckers coming from tree rose. These should be removed from the roots by pulling back the soil and pulling them if they are young enough. If older they should be cut off below ground. A. I think I have enough information to answer. If these are naturally occurring “sprouts” and not coming from a damaged area then I would say no. However, usually if you keep these suckers controlled as soon as you see them and remove them at the trunk, not cutting them off with a shears, the number should slow down considerably.             There are chemicals you can apply that are sprout inhibitors but I don’t think you have access to those chemicals as a consumer and not a professional. Besides, even if you did have access to them they would probably be expensive for you and a real pain to apply it. The best way to reduce the numbers is make a short term commitment to remove them as soon as you see them. Remove them directly from the trunk.             This may mean you will have to remove some soil from the trunk and cut them as close to the trunk as you can. As you see new sprouts a couple of inches long, immediately pull them from the trunk.             If you keep this up and do not let them get large before you remove them then I think you will see a reduction in numbers and easier maintenance. I wish there was a magic bullet for you but I doubt it.

Q. You have covered on one of your post about nematodes. Last fall, I pulled one of my cucumber plants. There were 4 plants in a row. One of the plants definitely had strange roots which I am almost positive were caused by root knot nematodes. I didn’t do any solarization because it was cold during the time and I have read that it is best to do it during the hottest months. Are these nematodes harmful to humans and my dog? Will it give me a disease or worm if I touched the soil? Swelling bumps on roots is root knot nematode infestation You have covered that the only other way to fix this completely is through fumigation–which I can’t really do since I only do organic gardening. Can I at least plant any other vegetables in the same raised bed, or will it cause me any ill effects after I eat the fruit/veggies that it bears? I was also thinking of maybe removing the soil from the raised bed and move them to the big pots where I will be planting citrus plants. Then I will replace the raised bed with new soil. Would this work well or will it just cause problems to my citrus plants? I’d love your input.   Root know nematode on tomato A. Nematodes are very tough to impossible to get rid of if you have them. I should say they are basically impossible to get rid of. Be careful and do not move soil from this spot to other areas or you will move the nematodes as well. Nematodes only infest plants, not animals so all animals are safe around these guys. Soil solarization will help knock back the populations but not get rid of them. There are some products like Clandosan (a natural product) which are supposed to help but I would not be too optimistic. Even with fumigation it does not get rid of them buy just knocks them back.             Use vegetables that are nematode resistant and fruit trees on rootstocks that resist nematodes. On vegetables they will have the designation “N”below the name somewhere. Other letters might also appear like “V” “F” and the like which just stands for resistant to other pest problems like Verticillium (V) and Fusarium (F), two prominent disease problems. Nematode resistant rootstocks for fruit trees include Nemaguard, Citation, Viking, Atlas, Myrobalan, and Marianna. Hope this helps.  

Q. What is the best way to control Shield Bugs here in Las Vegas?   They were found on my Italian Cypress.   My concern is that they will invade my garden.  The broccoli and cabbage seem to be ok right now but the new garden is going in this week.   Shield or stink bug. They have a hypodermic-like mouthpart lying under their abdomen that can pierce fruit or vegetables and withdraw fluids. A. These can also be called “stink bugs” because it can release an odor from its abdomen when attacked or threatened. Many of these types of insects will damage fruits and vegetables and they have no really good predators here for them. Even birds will leave them alone because of their “stink”.              We will find lots of bugs on our plants. It is really the numbers that count. They are overwintering right now and waiting for a chance to find some food with the new growth and make some babies. I would at this point just hand pick them when you see them and put them in a bottle with vinegar or alcohol. Stinkbug and apple to give you relative size. The dimples on the fruit were probably caused by stinkbug feeding             If you do not need to use a pesticide, I wouldn’t. These guys have wings under that shield and can fly from yard to yard. Pesticides used unnecessarily will also kill other insects, good and bad.             Also if you just take a spray bottle with soap and water and spray them directly this will also kill them. This is true of all insects, good and bad. The water is made “wetter” or it loses its surface tension and can then invade the tiny spiracles that insects have on their body for taking in air and “breathing”. This causes them to basically drown.             Soap and water sprays are good to use but must land directly on the insect to “drown” it. It will not leave a poisonous residue behind like pesticides can.

Thinning cut removes branch at a crotch or where two branches come together. Q. I have two, 3 year old grapefruit trees that I want to move to new area of yard.  How far back should I prune them before the move? A. The purpose in pruning them would be to reduce the top because you need to destroy part of its established root system to move them. So by cutting the top back, you compensate somewhat for the partial loss of the root system. If you were moving them without destroying much of the roots, you would not need to prune them back.             However, if you are digging them from the ground and you notice that you have to cut through quite a bit of roots, and larger roots at that, then I would take about one third out of the canopy. I would probably remove some limbs totally that might be a bit too close together.             The type of cut you make will be important. There are two types: one where you remove a branch at the juncture of two branches leaving only one of the two remaining (thinning cut).  Heading cut is made anywhere along a branch just above a bud. Heading cuts are not made where two branches come together.             The second type is where a cut is made somewhere along the branch, NOT at a juncture (heading cut). It is best if you use THINNING CUTS (remove an entire branch or limb) if possible. These are cuts made at the juncture of two branches, leaving only one behind.             This type of cut results in a general thinning of the branches (fewer branches in the area). The heading cut does not result in fewer branches, just shorter branches.

 Lawn aerator punches holes in your lawn to get air deeper and helps your lawn improve its drought tolerance. Q. What should I be doing for my lawn now in March?   These are the aeration plugs left behind by a core aerator. They should be raked up and put in your compost pile. A. We should be thinking about getting it ready for the heat. Better heat and drought tolerance is achieved with a deeper root system and good nutrition. If you did not aerate your lawn in the fall, then now would be a good time to do that.              Watch out for your irrigation lines and sprinkler heads. The tines of the aerator can go down four inches. Your irrigation lines may not be that deep in some places. Aerating the lawn will allow air to travel into the soil deeper and help the grass to develop a deeper root system. Deep rooting is the magic behind good drought tolerance. Aeration helps your lawn get a deeper root system.             Good nutrition is key to good heat tolerance. Use a good quality lawn fertilizer at least once during the year. The best time to spend that kind of money is before the heat comes. Buy a trade name lawn fertilizer that has a history with lawns. Scotts comes to mind. There are others as well.

Nectarine damage from thrips. Picture from another reader, not this one. Q. I have an Arctic Star nectarine but the fruit really looks awful each year. How do I make the fruit look better and is this fruit safe to eat? A. This particular nectarine is one of my favorite fruits to grow in Las Vegas and it is also one of the more difficult to grow as well. The difficulty is just what you are experiencing. The fruit becomes scarred because of the Western flower thrip.             But let me say something about the quality of this fruit first. When I first tasted this fruit I was blown away. The flavor profiles are absolutely remarkable when it is grown here in the desert. My best description would be “perfumey”. Now I am not a “perfumey” kind of guy but it has this floral overtone that sets it apart. Arctic Star nectarine growing at the Orchard. Sprays were applied to control the scarring from thrips.              It is a white-fleshed nectarine. Typical, like many white fleshed peaches, I would describe the taste having some almond in the background, very sweet and with these floral (I would call them rose) backgrounds.              Nectarine is a hairless peach. It was discovered in a peach orchard as a “sport” (mutation) growing on a peach tree. This branch with the hairless peach was propagated by cuttings and then used as budwood to make more nectarines.             The hair on a peach that some people object to actually adds some protection from insects for the fruit. Tiny insects, like the Western flower thrips, are so small (long and narrow measuring about 1/32 of an inch long) that they have a hard time battling their way down to the skin of a hairy peach. Scarring from thrips starts at a very early time in fruit development. Spraying should begin immediately after flower petal fall.             However, once that hair is no longer there this insect has no problem getting to the skin of the fruit. Once at the skin, this thrip uses its modified mouthpart to rip and shred at the skin surface and lap up the juice from the fruit much like a dog.              This tearing and shredding of the fruit skin leaves scarring on the fruit surface as it grows. This scarring is what you are seeing. I have watched thrips start their feeding inside the flowers of peach and nectarine, feeding on the ovary of the flower. As the ovary becomes pollinated and the fruit develops, the hair on the peach keeps the thrip at bay.               However, the hairless peach, the nectarine, does not have this protection and the thrip continues feeding up to harvest. This can cause tremendous scarring of the fruit and it looks so awful no one wants to eat it. It is, however, perfectly safe to eat.             Control of the thrip on nectarine requires a spray program on nectarines but not on peach. Sprays used in rotation include insecticidal soaps, neem oil and spinosad. I will talk more about control and give some pictures in my blog. Start your spray schedule right after the petals fall from the flowers. Do not spray flowers in bloom…ever. Follow label directions on your sprays. Obey the re-entry period that the label states even though the sprays I mentioned are “organic”. However, the most effective spray in the group is the spinosad. Spray the fruit to protect it. Add a wetting agent to the spray to get better fruit coverage.

Q. Do you know anything about a grass seed called CanadaGreen I saw for sale in a magazine? It says it sprouts and covers the area in ten days and can survive from 120F to 40 below zero. Is it any better than our local selections available at stores here?     A. I did a little bit of background check on this grass. You can say anything about anything you want when you are marketing but if they don’t tell you what kind of grass is in the bag then you have no way of knowing if it will work in Las Vegas.             So, not knowing the grass, I did find a review by someone who bought some seed and quoted what was in the bag. State seed laws require that you must state the percentages of grasses on the label of a product, its germination percentage, percent weed seed, etc. However, an advertisement doesn’t have to.             This seed is nothing special. It contains 53.2 % creeping red fescue, 23.4 % annual ryegrass, 14.1% perennial ryegrass and 4.4 % Kentucky bluegrass. The reason it comes up fast is primarily the annual ryegrass. You can find the same mix of grass seed, called Shade Mix or something about shade, at your local hardware or grocery store.             Annual ryegrass is considered a “nurse grass” by some because it comes up quickly and provides some protection for the slower germinating grasses. Many people consider it a weed. It is an inexpensive grass, used by blow and go guys in Las Vegas for overseeding bermudagrass for winter color.             It is an annual grass and does not handle heat very well and, when used for winter overseeding, dies in early summer when temperatures hit 100+F. Besides that, it is really not very pretty at all. It is light green, never gets dark green and looks rough when you mow it.             Creeping red fescue will not survive Las Vegas summers. It is considered a shade grass and will die the same time as the annual ryegrass does. Does great in Western Oregon!             The third is perennial ryegrass and it might survive the summers in Las Vegas depending on the variety of perennial rye. Some are heat tolerant (Palmer and Prelude for instance) while others are not (Manhattan and Pennfine for instance). If it is not a heat tolerant perennial rye, it will die when it gets hot. If it is a heat tolerant rye, then you have a 14% winner!             Kentucky bluegrass is very slow to germinate and can take about a month to sprout. A good grass for northern climates but is questionable in the hot south like us.             Don’t waste your money. You can find plenty of grass seed locally that won’t work here. At least if you buy it locally, and it dies, you will support local purveyors. These reviews are from Amazon.com, purchasers of CanadaGreen grass seed. The Truth About Canada Green Grass Seed, March 11, 2011 Joe Mama “Jim Bob” (USA) I recently purchased this item thinking it was a special type of seed. This is a regular shade type grass seed mixture. It contains: 53.2 % Creeping red fescue 23.4 % Annual Rye grass 14.1 Perennial Rye grass 4.4 % Kentucky Bluegrass These numbers were on the bag as required. This is close to the same ingredients in most shade mixtures you can buy at any hardware store. I recently saw a shade mixture with almost identical amounts of these seeds for about $3.00 a pound at my local hardware store. Also the commercials and ads says you can just spread it by hand but the bag tells you to till the soil to a depth of 2″ , rake it in and then use a roller. Not as easy as it seems in their ads. I wish these important mixture percentages were listed before I purchased mine from Amazon. Hopefully it helps you in your buying decision. S. Marsh (Dover NH) We planted the seeds from the directions, watered daily had beautiful sunshine everyday & not 1 sprout of grass to be seen even 2 weeks later. Have contacted the company several times & have had no success in getting an aknowledgement or a response…they said they guarantee that you will have a full lawn in 10 days – well not from this product ! Shay0124 (Houston, Texas) This grass did grow quickly. I saw growth within a week – soft and pretty. However, it cannot take the Texas heat and promptly died within three weeks despite proper watering. This product may do very well in other parts of the country that do not consistently have temps over 90 degrees for many months. M. A Eggleton After 25 days since we sowed the Canada Green seed according to their directions we have had ZERO (0) germination indicating bad seed. We contacted the supplier on three occassions asking that “good” replacement seed be sent so that we could meet the fall seeding period. We were told by the supplier “We do not replace seed” Philip C. Thompson This grass seed must be mostly a type of annual grass. I planted this grass in three different places. It came up quickly, and I was pleased, but now, the following Spring, the areas are now bare dirt. In other areas of the yard I planted 5-way Tall fesue from Rural King. Those areas are thriving and nice and green. The grass seed is a big waste of money, I had to go back and replant all the areas that I originally planted with Canada Green Grass Lawn Seed. This stuff stinks, so don’t be a sucker and buy Canada Green Grass Lawn Seed. Brandon Sterne (Concrete, WA) I ordered 5 bags and spread it all in newly tilled ground. I watered regularly and still not one single blade of grass has grown. Perhaps it grows in Canada but not Washington State!! Would